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Bringing more potential clients to your website is about more than just adding keywords to your pages — it’s about the content you add to those pages. Listen along as digital marketing expert Sara Walsh shares the top three types of content for search engine optimization (SEO).

Sara Walsh helps small business owners sustainably grow their visibility on Google and attract the right people to their website so that they can spend less time searching for their next client and more time doing the things they truly enjoy in their business.

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The episode:

Katrina Widener: Hi everyone, it's me Katrina. I'm here today with Sara Walsh from Sara Walsh Marketing. Sara is someone who has come and spoken at group coaching beforehand and also is a previous member. So I'm very excited to have her here today. So thank you so much for being here today, Sara. 

Sara Walsh: Yeah. Thanks for having me Katrina! I'm excited. 

Katrina Widener: So I know that I gave a little bit of an introduction, but do you want to tell us a little bit more about yourself and your business and everything that you do?

Sara Walsh: Yeah. So I really primarily focus on working with small business owners and helping them get more visible on Google specifically. And I really work a lot with organic optimization. So all of the techniques and tips and tricks that I teach people are all free and don't cost any money so it's all about organic optimization online. And with that, it's really about, getting to know who your ideal clients are, so that you can more directly speak to them on your website. So it really works on multiple levels to help people find your business, but then also help people really connect with your business and feel like they've found the right business for them.

Katrina Widener: So first of all, that's super, super important. And I think that sometimes people might get excited by that idea, but not exactly know how to implement it, which is where you come in. But also I was going to say, I know that a lot of people either are just like completely stumped when it comes to something like digital marketing and search engine optimization in specific.  So what would be something that you would say to someone who's feeling intimidated by digital marketing or search engine optimization? 

Sara Walsh: Yeah, that's a great question. And I really do hear that a lot that people are intimidated by SEO or not sure if they can handle it on their own. And I think the biggest tip of advice that I have to say is that it's really not as complex and intimidating as it seems on the surface.

Yes, there are some technical pieces that take a little bit of digging around on the backend of your website to figure out exactly where you're implementing these pieces. But once you start digging in a little bit and understanding the concepts, it's really not that hard. It really is a lot about like psychology and trying to understand your ideal client and talk directly to them versus, people always have this idea that it's so technical and so overwhelming and just going to be way too over their head. But it's really not about that. So I just want people to know that it doesn't have to be intimidating. It doesn't have to be scary. You can do it, too. It's really not that challenging as some people like to make it out to be.

Katrina Widener: I think that's really important also to clarify, because I know so many people, when they think about search engine optimization, they're like, wait, so I have to have this on my website and I need to do that. And but what about Google keywords and all these other things, but bringing it back, like you said to your ideal client and your audience and speaking directly to them and really seeing this as just like a tool to communicate faster and easier and more clearly with your ideal audience kind of changes the mindset. It makes it be like, "Oh, okay. This totally makes more sense." As opposed to just Google ranking. 

Sara Walsh: Mmhmm, Totally. 

Katrina Widener: So I know that today, we're going to talk a little bit about like the best types of website content for SEO, but before we dive into that, I was wondering if you would just explain a little bit more about what when we talk about website content, what we mean and why it's so important to think about website content when we're talking about SEO. 

Sara Walsh: Yeah. So when I'm talking about website content, I'm pretty specifically talking about the text and the copy that goes on your website.

There's also images and video that people add to their websites, but the text and the actual copy is what matters most for search engines, because they do not understand images and videos the same way that humans do. So it's really important, even if you are putting videos on your website that have a lot of great information. It's great to also have text along with that video. Really when it comes to search engines, having physical text on the front end of your website is what I'm talking about. So this could be blog posts, or it could just be an article or a page on your website. That is what I mean by website content. 

Katrina Widener: Cool. And I know that a lot of people might not, this is just, this is not a question. This is just an additional comment. A lot of people who are like, Ooh, but I don't want to do a blog or but I hate doing that kind of stuff. Like I'm putting these podcasts show notes on my website as my quote unquote blog, because that's the way to say, hey, I might have this audio version of information for my audience, but it's also really useful text and written information to also include on my website because then yes, Google can crawl it and look at those words and get some of the, like the big keywords that we're talking about when it comes to information for entrepreneurs, whether that is SEO or branding or copywriting or mindset or whatever it is. But it also then provides just like another platform for my audience. Maybe you prefer to read instead of listen. So it was just like a little additional. 

Sara Walsh: I do think that's a great point that people get intimidated when they hear the word blog.   Thinking like, "Oh no, now I have to come up with this whole other thing to write about." But really people are generally posting on social or doing something in their business that can really easily translate to a page on their website versus creating something completely new. 

Katrina Widener: So when it comes to the best types of website content for SEO, what would you recommend.

Sara Walsh: So the first thing that I want to talk about is answering questions on your website. So when people are on Google and you're really thinking about them, like sitting in front of their computer, trying to type out a search and what they're looking for, they're generally asking a question and looking for an answer to that question.

So the first thing that I want to recommend that's really helpful is starting to listen more to the questions that people are asking you either on your initial calls or while you're working together, just really paying attention to those questions and the way, like the language that people are asking those questions in. And then using that as a post that you can write on your website.

So for example, a lot of people ask me what the difference is between Google Analytics and Google My Business and Google Search Console and if they need all three of those. And so answering those questions that people naturally have as they're starting to get into something that your business relates to and something that you can help people with. Getting them on your website and answering that question for them and really showing up as the expert that you are and letting them know that you have more information about that topic. That's all really helpful to get people aware of your business. And also starting to view you as an expert and as someone that can help them with their problem. 

Katrina Widener: I think that's super important too, which I, I keep mentioning, like that's super important. It's one of those things like I have had on my website, "What is an accountability coach?" I used to do just accountability coaching for entrepreneurs. Every single accountability coach client I got was from the blog post. And people, that's still one of my most viewed pages on my website because people are Googling "what is an accountability coach", and then they would come and see my answer and hire me just based off of that one blog post. So I think that's a really good tip for people to be able to walk away and say, "Hey, I can go and look this up right now." 

What would be some of the other website content types that you would recommend? 

Sara Walsh: Yeah. So another big thing is education. So especially in a field like SEO, there's a lot of education needed first for people to understand why it's important for their business. And I imagine that similar for your business too, that people want to learn a little bit more about what exactly am I going to get out of this? And how is this going to benefit me? So really focusing on that educational content is really helpful too, because again, you're establishing yourself as an expert and helping people understand that topic a little bit better, but then again, you're also getting in front of them and showing them that you can help them fully understand this topic and better incorporate it in their business.

Katrina Widener: Totally. It's one of those things where I feel like education is one of the most basic ways that I can help my clients. But I do think it's something that gets missed pretty often too, of just like, what do I talk about? It's like, well, what can you teach your audience?

And it's also that idea of if I tell them how to do this one thing, then they won't need to hire me. And I'm like, actually, it will make them want to hire you more because they'll believe that you know what you're talking about. 

Sara Walsh: Yeah, definitely. And I think it's also important to note that your website really should not be focused completely on you and your business. It should really be focused on what people are going to get out of working with you and really answering their questions. So trying to think of it from that standpoint of what are they looking for when they're coming to my website versus talking just about you. 

Katrina Widener: Because search engine optimization is important, but also making sure that your website services or audience is a huge part of digital marketing, which is like one of the biggest parts of marketing in today's world.

Okay. So we have answering questions and education -- what's next? 

Sara Walsh: Yep. So the last one that I have is case study pages or testimonial pages. So I want to get a little bit deeper into what I mean about that. So some people have a testimonials page on their website that is a lot of great quotes from people who have worked with them in the past and gotten great results, but really to use this as an SEO tool, it's great to break these down into individual pages so you can get more focused and specific keywords on those pages.

For example, if you were to break down a testimonial from somebody that worked with you and got good results, you could use a keyword like "business coach for social media strategist" or something like that. Like getting really narrow on that page and then walking through the journey that person went through, where they were at before they worked with you, what that process was like working together, and then what that end result was. So rather than just having an end quote from somebody who had a great experience with you, really diving into that full journey of what that looked like to work with you. Because first you'll be able to get more of those, like niche down, narrowed keywords on your website, but then you'll also be able to show people what that process looks like so they know better what they can expect when they work with you. And then they can start envisioning themselves in that story and kind of understanding like, yeah, I have this struggle too, and that would really help me if I had some support on my journey with us. 

Katrina Widener: So I'm going to ask you a follow-up question on that one, because I know that I have clients who have talked about wanting to do that type of work on their website. And have, I guess I have two questions. The first one is like, how would you go about having that conversation with a client or a past client of how do I get the information from them to say where were you at the beginning versus where you are now? Because obviously for some people it might be like, all right well, at the beginning we had X amount of page views, and now we have this much more page views, but I work with, you know, like wedding photographers or social media strategists who are focusing more on alignment as opposed to just engagement or I have some artists, like, how would you go about tackling those kinds of conversations with your clients to get the information outside of just like a pull quote.

Sara Walsh: I definitely recommend incorporating surveys into your business process. So that can be a really great way to capture where people are at the beginning. And it also helps you get a better understanding of what that person is looking to accomplish in working with you. But I think having that survey at the beginning and at the end can be a really great way to start capturing some of that information. And then when you do approach somebody and ask if you can use their story on your website as a testimonial, you can help them by pulling those pieces from the survey or reminding them of what those survey answers were so that it's not as hard to go back and remember everything, but have that there.

Katrina Widener: I love what you were talking about for the survey at the beginning and at the end. Because I feel like a lot of people do it at the end only. And I know that I have a tendency to maybe sometimes over survey my clients, but I'm like, Hey, this is something for you. And I want to make sure that I'm doing it in a way that makes sense for you and that's going to serve you the best. So I'm a big survey proponent. But I love that you mentioned that because I think that oftentimes people are afraid to ask for someone's opinion and especially at the beginning, it's so easy to just be like, I have this quick survey for you to fill out before we get started and they'll be like, yeah, I'm so excited. Let's do it.

Sara Walsh: Yup. Totally. 

Katrina Widener: And then my other question: When it comes to these like case study pages, what would you recommend for a newbie or someone who maybe doesn't have a full roster of people to pick from? How can they build something from either beta clients or maybe they've had one or two clients -- less of the long term maybe like data, but more something that they could still build to show off what they've done with the people who they have worked 

Sara Walsh: Yeah. That's always a little bit of a tough one because when you're just getting started, you don't necessarily have this full client list to pull from and ask people if you can share their stories. So I definitely recommend just starting small, if you can. One thing to note is that search engines are crawling your website from day one, after it launches whether or not you're doing anything SEO-wise for it. So the sooner you can get started on building these pages out and starting that section of your website, the better off, you're going to be.

So I think that, yes, it can be scary to just put two examples out there and think, " Oh my goodness, everybody is going to laugh at me only having two client testimonials on my website." But realistically, even the people that I've worked with who have been in business for several years, they only have five projects sometimes that they're highlighting on their websites. So I think it's okay to have a small number. But I do think the sooner you can get started with it, the more benefit you're going to get from it versus focusing on only having a small number of clients. 

Katrina Widener: Thank you. I would have never thought about that, but it is really important to get that out there and honestly, just like the social proof, too, to have that on your website is so important.

Okay. So I have one more question for you and that's just, what one super implementable tip or piece of advice would you have to give someone who is just starting out building their digital presence? So whether that's like a website tip or an SEO tip, what would be like the one super implementable thing that you would say that someone could go and do right now?

Sara Walsh: Yeah. Especially for businesses who are serving their local community, getting your business listed on Google My Business is a really big deal because it is a Google property and Google tends to weigh that more than other things. So getting started with Google My Business and starting to get reviews especially is going to be really helpful for starting to build up that trust for your business both with search engines, but also with your potential clients too, by building those reviews. 

Katrina Widener: Yes, I love it. And I can say that I have attended Sara's Google My Business workshop personally, and it is amazing. And it is something that seems so simple once you think about it, like of course. Yeah. Why wouldn't I list my business on Google for Google to give me more recognition, but it's something that maybe isn't also always the first talked about thing. So important though! Thank you so much for hopping on Sara. I am so glad that we were able to talk about this. I think it's going to be super helpful for people. 

Sara Walsh: Yeah, you're so welcome.

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